Nathan Phillips – “Vietnam Times” Veteran

 

By now you have all seen the images and read about the controversy surrounding the encounter at a rally in Washington, D.C. involving some high school students and a Native American – Nathan Phillips.

Nathan is a tribal elder and has often been put forth as a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran.

We have filed for his military records but the point of this article is that there are stories all over the place about what Phillips’ status is and to do this right takes time.

But in the media’s rush to get a story out — what “facts” rise to the surface and what did Phillips actually say about his military service?

As a good example, in this CNN newscast, Phillips states that he is a “Vietnam Times Veteran” while CNN runs the label below him quoting him as saying  “I am a Vietnam Veteran…” which is not what he said.

Then, CNN puts up the label of “Native American War Vet”…

Now, “Vietnam times” seems to be an interesting way of stating his service, but did it really mean “Vietnam era” or simply his time in Vietnam?  According to his direct quote with NewsMaven, he uses the same terminology but also extends it to “Marine Corps times” sounding like a period in his life.

Nathan Phillips: Thank you for your support. I could do some more prayers. Honestly. I’m still scared. I’m still feeling vulnerable. But I’m not gonna back down. Those young people from that school, that song was a prayer for their future and my children’s future. We’re facing critical times and we’ve got to make choices, and they’re going to be some hard choices.

I’m not a chief or anything. But I feel like at that moment it was for me to do what I’ve always said in for a long time is that I’m expendable. You know, when I was in Vietnam times and when I was in the Marine Corps times, that’s what I was. I was expendable. Expendable to corporate greed. You know, in all wars, especially the ones that are going down for the oil, you know, we’re fighting against — the pipelines. Now that we’re at a point where we’ve drawn the line, we’ve got to stand that line. All of us.

We have received a lot of questions about Nathan Phillips’ actual service but until his military records come back, the best we could do is to look for a signature in the digital reference library known as the internet.

In a Forbes.com article, it states that Mr. Phillips “was placed in a foster home as a child and later joined the Marines and served in Vietnam.”   However, this was not a direct quote from Nathan Phillips.  This seemed to reference a Detroit Free Press article which emphasized Phillips’ life story.

In the Detroit Free Press article, it claims Phillips is a “former Marine” and went on later to elaborate more, stating that Phillips served in the Vietnam War.

Born in Nebraska into the Omaha tribe, Phillips said he was five years old when he was “taken away from my family and put in foster care … until I was 17.”

Phillips said he grew up in an abusive home, started working on construction and lumber jobs, and then joined the Marines, serving in the Vietnam War.

He later moved to Washington, D.C., and became active with Native American issues. He’s now with the Native Youth Alliance and also does work with Native American veterans.

It is important to point out that Phillips was not quoted directly, so there’s always the possibility of an over-zealous reporter hearing “Vietnam-Times veteran” or “Vietnam-Era veteran” and assigning their own take on it.

If one were to go back further, The Warren Record (NC) published an article on February 4, 2009 titled “Drum Group Showcases Native American Culture.”  They referred to Phillips as a “Vietnam veteran” although he was not quoted directly as saying that.

In a recent article by The Arizona Daily Star on January 20, 2019, they stated that Phillips was a “Vietnam War veteran” and as before, Phillips was not quoted directly.

It has been reported several times in the media that Nathan Phillips is 63-64 years old.  That would have put him at 18 years old in 1973, so he would have graduated high school in either 1972 or 1973.  It would have been an extremely tight timeline to have him in the country of Vietnam during the War.  This alone has some people raising questions.

So, as we at TAH do the right thing and wait for all the correct facts and documentation to come in, we can watch this story play out in the media as to Nathan Phillips’ military service – what he actually claimed and what the media is claiming.

Maybe some of the TAH ninjas can find other quotes and/or piece together more information from their own experiences?

Some will be quick to claim it a case of Stolen Valor but what did Mr. Phillips actually claim?  Others may be embarrassed that they went with a story too quickly before all the facts were checked – because it was too sexy to ignore and it fit their narrative.  It will be interesting to see how some folks will backtrack.

As the old saying goes – time will tell.

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